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Ran (Masterworks Edition) Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu Director: Akira Kurosawa Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 160 minutes Studio: Wellspring Media, In Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-04-15 Buy from Amazon |
 "William Akira Shakespeare Kurosawa"This film is undeniable the most notable adaptation of any work of William Shakespeare to the movie. The insights in every detail, the superb cast, the overwheelming photography, the camera's handle makes us inevitably to remind that happy sentence of Orson Welles who said once: "One film is really extraordinary , when the camera is an eye in the mind of a poet". Casually this film is made in 1985, the same year of Welles'death. Kurosawa was a truly master. Once upon a time a critical compared to Kenji Mizoguchi with Bach. If this methaphor is assumed valid, then Kurosawa would have his musical image in Ludwig van Beethoven. The amazing scene of the castle in flames, with a remarkable red that invites us to reflect about the human condition, his hunger for power, the horror generated by that unthirsty ambition. The multiple readings that concern with the violence and the passion carrying the devasting facts that appear all along this film. The opening sequences in which the three brothers are together with their father is filmed with such kind of perfection that I wouldn't wonder to know that this an obligated reference for all those students of direction. In this sense, this multiple exchange of points of view reveal us without affections of any kind,the essencial nature of the human being inmersed in the purest spirit shakesperian. Kurosawa, like the great giants of th cinema handles the camera like Gods, includes the color and the nature's elements like adittional actors (Dreams). Just remember that Akira was the first filma maker who dared film against the sun in that glorius film Rashoman from 1950. His achievements all along his brilliant career are too many and certainly, would be beyond the reach of this shorts analysis. This is one of these gems that you must see over and over, just when you admire this eternal masterpiece. To be true the others Shakespeare's versions that deseve to be carried to the desert island would be in my opinion Titus 2000 (Julie Taymor), Othelo 1953 (Welles) , Richard III 1955 (Olivier), and Throne of blood 1957(Kurosawa). But this movie is just several steps ahead all the titles above mentioned.  "Not as good as all you people are making it out to be"This movie is terrible. I bought it expecting a good action epic with lots of battles and sword fights. There are no battles there are 2 massacres where all that happens is "samurai" with guns? shoot each other and women. samurai dont have guns. The story was good but they ruined it with 2 hours and 30 mins of talking on and on about the same topic over and over, yak yak yak. There is no drama the characters dont develope except for the old guy who just walks around starring and goes crazy. The perfomances are the same in everyone, yelling even when there happy, and they all sound the same even the women. No action, no drama, nothing except talk and fake blood from the stupid shooting, not swords, guns, What? Very bad movie, I was dissapointed, greatly. I would give 0 stars but they dont let me.  "It's not the movie"I'll repeat the title of the review. It's not the movie. I think Kurosawa is just amazing, and I feel this film is fantastic. I already owned the other DVD release of this film and I ordered this one because honestly, the picture quality of the other is harsh to watch. And it's true this version is much cleaner, but they changed the aspect ratio. Ran was shot originally in a 1:85:1 ratio. For this new DVD they scanned it into the computer using an HD system, and chopped the frame from 1:85:1 to 16:9. It's hard to really compare the two ratios, but being a film geek when I started the film immediately I knew something was wrong when the image was bigger and the end of Kurosawa's name was chopped off. I pulled out my old version of Ran, and threw it on my computer and played the opening titles side by side. Sure enough, the edges of the film have been chopped off. Now, this won't bother most people. But for a film student like myself, it bothers me to see people mess with someone else's art in this manner. It's worse than Lucas butchering Star Wars or Speilberg and ET (albeit not by much) becasue it isn't even their film! Other films have been cleaned up and placed on to DVD without distorting the image, many Kurosawa films in fact. It bothered me to see it, and I was pretty let down, this is just a fair warning to anyone else like me. "The best telling of King Lear I have ever seen."Kurosawa has tackled Shakespear before, like in the brilliant Throne Of Blood, but in this film he shows why he is one of the greatest directors of all time. Kurosawa was in his 70's at the time of making this film and proves he never lost his edge. The story is set in the time of the samurai. A lord is turning over his rule to his oldest son, a desision that dose not sit well with his youngest son, who warns his father that his move will cause nothing but pain, and betrayal. He proves to be correct. The movie is just like Kurosawa's other films in that it has the feel of a grand, sweeping epic but never makes you feel like you'r watching Ben-Hur. THe cinamatopraphy is outstanding and the acting is some of the best I have ever seen in a Japaness film, or any for that matter. If you are looking for one of Kurosawa's best works this is a great place to start if you haven't already seen The Seven Samurai, this is a great peice of film making and somthing every film maker can learn from. I just wish as many people saw this film as have seen the last Friday The 13th, that would be sonmthing. "Kurosawa does David Lean"I read "King Lear" several years ago and I confess that I got lost from time to time in the play. I believe that I understand it a lot better now that I have seen "Ran". This is one of those film epics ala "Dr. Zhivago" or "Lawrence of Arabia" with the added bonus that Shakespeare helped with the screenplay. I might get into trouble with that last comment. After all, the language was a little more down to earth but still on a level well above your typical epic. This foreign film won an Academy Award for best costume design and it's not hard to see why. The only problem is, nobody ever seems to get theirs dirty except when they're killed. There are a number of battle scenes that bring to mind the old film trailer line..A CAST OF THOUSANDS. The color and quality of the film are superb on this version at least until the last part where it darkened rather noticeably. Although it's 160 minutes in length, I have no complaints about that fact. I do have to admit that I had to take a break a time or two to run some errands but the story line was well developed so I had no trouble picking up where I left off. This would have been an impressive movie to see on the big screen. Like the play, this is a tragedy in which many characters are killed but the motivation behind it all is the heart of it's story. As I always do with foreign language DVD's, I watched this initially in its' original language with English subtitles. The acting was so good, I believe I will continue to watch it that way. I would recommend this movie to anyone has something of an appreciation for Shakespeare and an appreciation for good movies. I came away with the impression that I had just seen a cinema classic for the ages. You may just get the same reaction. |
